The
Battle of Blue Waters was a medieval battle fought at some time between 24 September and 25 December 1362 near the Syni Vody of the
Southern BugThe Southern Buh, Bug, or Boh River is entirely located in Ukraine. It rises in the west, in the Podolian uplands, about 145 km from the Polish border, and flows southeasterly into the Black Sea through the southern steppe...
between the armies of the
Grand Duchy of LithuaniaThe Grand Duchy of Lithuania was an Eastern and Central European state from the 12th /13th century until 1795. It was founded by the Lithuanians, one of the pagan Baltic tribes from Aukštaitija...
and the
Golden HordeThe Ulus of Jochi or the Golden Horde is an East Slavic designation for the Mongol—later Turkicized—Muslim khanate established in the western part of the Mongol Empire after the Mongol invasion of Rus' in the 1240s: present-day Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Kazakhstan, and the Caucasus...
.
Taking advantage of internal disorders within the Golden Horde caused by deaths of Khans
Jani BegJani Beg was a khan of the Golden Horde from 1342-1357, succeeding his father Uzbeg Khan.After putting two of his brothers to death, Jani Beg crowned himself in Saray-Jük. He is known to have actively interfered in the affairs of Russian principalities and of Lithuania...
and
Berdi BegBerdi Beg or Berdibek was Khan of the Golden Horde from 1357 till 1359, succeeding his father Jani Beg of whom Berdi Beg may have been behind the poisoning. His reign was marked by turmoil and political murders, and in 1359 he was assassinated by his brother Qulpa, after which the Golden Horde fell...
, Grand Duke
AlgirdasAlgirdas or Olgerd was a monarch of medieval Lithuania. Algirdas ruled the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from 1345 to 1377, which chiefly meant monarch of Lithuanians and Ruthenians...
organized a campaign into Tatar lands. In 1363 Algirdas marched between lower Dnieper and
Southern BugThe Southern Buh, Bug, or Boh River is entirely located in Ukraine. It rises in the west, in the Podolian uplands, about 145 km from the Polish border, and flows southeasterly into the Black Sea through the southern steppe...
.
LithuaniansLithuanians are the Baltic ethnic group native to Lithuania, where they number slightly over 3 million people. Another million or more make up the Lithuanian diaspora, largely found in countries such as the United States, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Russia, United Kingdom and Ireland...
and
RussiansThe Russian people are an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
won a decisive victory over local Mongol khans.
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The
Battle of Blue Waters was a medieval battle fought at some time between 24 September and 25 December 1362 near the Syni Vody of the
Southern BugThe Southern Buh, Bug, or Boh River is entirely located in Ukraine. It rises in the west, in the Podolian uplands, about 145 km from the Polish border, and flows southeasterly into the Black Sea through the southern steppe...
between the armies of the
Grand Duchy of LithuaniaThe Grand Duchy of Lithuania was an Eastern and Central European state from the 12th /13th century until 1795. It was founded by the Lithuanians, one of the pagan Baltic tribes from Aukštaitija...
and the
Golden HordeThe Ulus of Jochi or the Golden Horde is an East Slavic designation for the Mongol—later Turkicized—Muslim khanate established in the western part of the Mongol Empire after the Mongol invasion of Rus' in the 1240s: present-day Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Kazakhstan, and the Caucasus...
.
Taking advantage of internal disorders within the Golden Horde caused by deaths of Khans
Jani BegJani Beg was a khan of the Golden Horde from 1342-1357, succeeding his father Uzbeg Khan.After putting two of his brothers to death, Jani Beg crowned himself in Saray-Jük. He is known to have actively interfered in the affairs of Russian principalities and of Lithuania...
and
Berdi BegBerdi Beg or Berdibek was Khan of the Golden Horde from 1357 till 1359, succeeding his father Jani Beg of whom Berdi Beg may have been behind the poisoning. His reign was marked by turmoil and political murders, and in 1359 he was assassinated by his brother Qulpa, after which the Golden Horde fell...
, Grand Duke
AlgirdasAlgirdas or Olgerd was a monarch of medieval Lithuania. Algirdas ruled the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from 1345 to 1377, which chiefly meant monarch of Lithuanians and Ruthenians...
organized a campaign into Tatar lands. In 1363 Algirdas marched between lower Dnieper and
Southern BugThe Southern Buh, Bug, or Boh River is entirely located in Ukraine. It rises in the west, in the Podolian uplands, about 145 km from the Polish border, and flows southeasterly into the Black Sea through the southern steppe...
.
LithuaniansLithuanians are the Baltic ethnic group native to Lithuania, where they number slightly over 3 million people. Another million or more make up the Lithuanian diaspora, largely found in countries such as the United States, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Russia, United Kingdom and Ireland...
and
RussiansThe Russian people are an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
won a decisive victory over local Mongol khans. The victory brought the city of
KievKiev or Kyiv , is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300...
and a large part of present-day
UkraineUkraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east; Belarus to the north; Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary to the west; Romania and Moldova to the southwest; and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south. The city of Kiev is both the capital and the largest city of...
, including scarcely populated
PodoliaThe region of Podolia is an historical region in the west-central and south-west portions of present-day Ukraine, corresponding to Khmelnytskyi Oblast and Vinnytsia Oblast. Northern Transnistria, in Moldova is also a part of Podolia...
and
DykraDykra was the southern territory of the medieval Grand Duchy of Lithuania near the Black Sea, presently shared between Ukraine and Moldova....
, under the control of the expanding Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The duchy also gained access to the
Black Seaur a loser!The Black Sea is an inland sea bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas and various straits. The Bosporus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects it to...
. Algirdas left his son Vladymir in Kiev. Kiev was already under semi-Lithuanian control since the
Battle on the Irpen' RiverThe Battle on the Irpen' River occurred in early 1320s between the armies of Gediminas, the Grand Duke of Lithuania, and Prince Stanislav of Kiev, allied with Oleg of Pereyaslavl' and Roman of Bryansk. On the small Irpin River about south west of Kiev, Gediminas resoundingly defeated Stanislav...
in early 1320s. After taking Kiev, Lithuania became a direct neighbor and rival of the
Grand Duchy of MoscowThe Grand Duchy of Moscow was a medieval Russian polity centered on Moscow between 1340 and 1547. The Grand Duchy of Moscow, as the state is known in Russian records, has been referred to by many Western sources as Muscovy. However, this term is also sometimes applied to the Tsardom of Russia...
. Podolia was trusted to Algirdas' nephews and commanders during the battle Aleksander, Yuri, Konstantin, and Fedir, sons of Karijotas.